Eq Quigley: A couple of Kempton tips plus a 14/1 selection for the Triumph Hurdle

Ed Quigley is back with his regular tipping column putting up a couple of selections at Kempton on Saturday plus an antepost wager for the Triumph Hurdle. 

The Cheltenham Festival edges ever closer, but there is some top quality action on display this weekend with Kempton taking centre stage on Saturday.

The Coral Trophy Handicap Chase has been the long term plan for THE BIG BREAKAWAY, and with the Colin Tizzard team in fine fettle, he can land this three mile event at the Sunbury venue. This is a horse who perhaps hasn't fulfilled his potential, but it is still relatively early days, and this unexposed sort can take his form up a notch here. He shaped with plenty of encouragement over hurdles at Newbury a fortnight ago, a run which should have him spot on for this. As a novice chaser he ran a cracker over course and distance when a runner-up in Grade 1 company to Shan Blue in 2020 where if not for a bad mistake at the fence, would have gone close. He managed to finish third in last season's Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, and off a mark of 147 I envisage him being right in the shake-up returning to fences on his second start after a wind operation. 

Earlier on the card, we have the Adonis Hurdle which is always a fascinating spectacle. Milton Harris is a trainer who is having a season to remember and KNIGHT SALUTE can extend his unblemished record and make it five wins from five starts over hurdles. This course and distance winner was last seen winning the Summit Juvenile Hurdle at Doncaster. The form of that race has worked out a treat, as runner-up Porticello, and the third placed Impulsive One have come out and won since - so there is a robust feel to the substance of what Knight Salute has achieved. Everything should be set up for a big run here, and then he can take aim at the Irish protagonists in the Triumph Hurdle in around 3 weeks time. 

Sticking with the Juvenile Hurdle scene, and the aforementioned Irish challenge looks formidable in the Triumph Hurdle. However, I wonder if the joker in the pack is trained in England, more specifically at the Dan Skelton yard. DOCTOR PARNASSUS has wiped the floor with the opposition in both starts over hurdles; bolting up by 10 lengths at Ascot on his hurdling debut, and then absolutely laughed at the opposition to cruise clear by 9 lengths at Taunton earlier this month. It is true that what he has achieved so far falls a long way short of what others have managed so far - but he hasn't yet had a chance to demonstrate his full ability, and you are getting 14/1 to find out how much more there is in the locker. I think that is more than fair, and I wouldn't be shocked if he ran a stormer at Prestbury Park next month.

Advice:
The Big Breakaway, Coral Handicap Trophy, Kempton, Saturday, 1pt win 9/1 (Hills)
Knight Salute, Adonis Hurdle, Kempton, Saturday 1pt win (9/4 generally)
Doctor Parnassus, Triumph Hurdle, 1pt win 14/1 (generally)